Pierce rolls to 51-7 victory over Cardinals
By Mike Hansen & Brian Sumpter
Lake County Sports on Facebook
ARBUCKLE >> Too fast and too physical were the Pierce Bears in a 51-7 thumping of the Clear Lake Cardinals on Friday night at Pierce High School.
It was a hard night for head coach Mark Cory’s varsity football squad and a tough way for the Cardinals (0-1) to break in a new season. The second half took place with a running clock, the result of Clear Lake trailing 44-0 at halftime, and it was the most lopsided loss for the Cardinals since a 47-14 setback to St. Helena in the 2019 campaign – one that also featured a 46-14 loss to Pierce in the second game of that season.
In fact, Cory said the Cardinals’ less than auspicious opener against the Bears reminded him quite a bit of that 2019 meeting with Pierce.
“Last time I got my ass kicked that bad by a team it was Pierce,” Cory said. “We just didn’t have the horses to try and stop them. Besides that, everything that could go wrong did go wrong.”
There were a couple bright spots, just not nearly enough to change the outcome against a Pierce team that improved to 2-0 on the season.
“AJ threw the ball well,” Cory said of junior quarter AJ Bruch, who made his varsity debut by going 10-for-25 for 125 yards with two interceptions. “We could have done a lot better job catching the ball. We dropped quite a few (passes).”
Junior running back Payton Portlock turned his ankle early in the game and primarily played defense the rest of the way. Overall, the Cardinals didn’t have much success moving the ball on the ground, gaining only 44 yards. Bruch’s 1-yard keeper late in the game, and with Clear Lake trailing 51-0 at the time, accounted for the team’s only score as Nolan Ewing added the extra-point kick.
“We’re a work in progress,” Cory said. “We’ve got a young group and they’re adjusting to being the (go-to) guys now.”
While Clear Lake’s offense struggled to move the ball against the Bears, Pierce had no such problem against the Cardinals, scoring a little more than two minutes into the game on a 20-yard run for a 7-0 lead.
The Cardinals picked up a single first down before punting the ball back to the Bears, who booted a 37-yard field goal for a 10-0 lead after a drive stalled on penalties.
Portlock limped off the field on Clear Lake’s next possession, one that ended with another punt. Pierce converted on fourth-and-two from the Cardinal 46-yard line in the opening seconds of the second quarter, the Bears’ quarterback busting into the clear and going the distance for a touchdown and 17-0 lead.
Clear Lake was ready to punt again minutes later when a bad snap led to a desperation pass by punter Bruch. It fell incomplete, but intentional grounding was called on the play, backing the ball up to the Clear Lake 25 where Pierce took over. The Bears quickly converted, scoring a 1-yard quarterback keeper to go up 24-0.
The Cardinals put together a drive into Pierce territory that eventually ended when a fourth-and-seven pass from the Pierce 34 was incomplete.
Clear Lake’s defense had the Bears facing a third-and-13 a short time later when a Pierce running back scored on a 69-yard run with 6:31 remaining before halftime. The PAT kick made it 31-0.
On their next possession, the Cardinals gambled on a fourth-and-one from just inside Pierce territory and didn’t make it. The Bears scored again with 2:09 left, following up a 17-yard pass with a 17-yard touchdown run.
Clear Lake was facing a third-and-two moments later when a completed swing pass was fumbled and the Bears returned it 23 yards for a touchdown with 56 seconds left. Pierce missed the PAT kick but still had a 44-0 lead.
Pierce’s reserves converted on another third-and-long play in the third quarter and then scoring again from nine yards out to go up 51-0.
Clear Lake finally got on the board with 4:30 remaining in the game after recovering a Pierce fumble. A Bruch screen pass to Portlock moved the ball to the Pierce 15-yard line, and another pass from Bruch to tight end Kaden Graham put the ball at the 1. Bruch scored on the next play.
Zane McAuley was Bruch’s favorite target as he caught four passes for 42 yards. Portlock gained 25 yards on only two carries and had one catch for 15 yards.
Clear Lake opens its North Central League I schedule next Friday in Upper Lake against the Cougars (1-1), who notched a 36-26 road win over Los Molinos in non-league action Friday.
Pierce also won the junior varsity game, beating Clear Lake 28-16.
